Month: October 2024

Five Precepts of Buddhism and Five Yamas of Hinduism

The five precepts (panca sila) of Buddhism are codes of moral conduct

  1. Abstain from killing – not harming other living beings or environment
  2. Abstain from stealing or taking things not given
  3. Abstain from sexual misconduct
  4. Abstain from wrong speech – lying and deception increase ignorance and delusion
  5. Abstain from intoxicants – intoxicants cloud the mind and make us prone to transgress the 4 precepts

The five yamas (restraints) of Hinduism are disciplines of behavior

  1. Ahimsa – not harming others with behavior or speech
  2. Satya – truthfulness in speech
  3. Asteya – not stealing or taking something that doesn’t belong to us
  4. Brahmacarya – restraint in sexual behavior
  5. Aparigraha – take only what is needed/necessary for one’s needs, not being greedy

Both Buddhism and Hinduism share in the codes of conduct with the exception of the use of intoxicants.

Hinduism also includes 5 niyamas (observances) of actions towards ourselves

  • Sauca – cleanliness
  • Santosa – contentment
  • Tapas – health of body through good habits of excercise, sleep, nutrition
  • Svadhaya – self study
  • Isvarapranidhana – offer fruit of actions to God

Ayurveda and Yoga Changed My Life

My diet prior to 2019 consisted of typical foods: tacos, pizza, pasta, veggie burgers, burritos, etc. I thought it was healthy and that I was healthy. I had developed persistent post nasal drip that stayed year round even in the summer I was blowing my nose. I had a slipped disc in my lower back. I started having dyspepsia with digestion issues. The issues were piling up so I asked the doctor, but she was not able to provide any solutions or causes for the issues.

Then I had an issue with my right hip, it was painful to walk. This time I didn’t go back to the doctor, but found a chiropracter. She suggested therapy excercises similiar to yoga or pilates. Once I started the therapy, I was amazed at how much it helped strengthen my body. I started the workouts at home, but wanted to do more so I found some yoga/pilates/dance workouts on youtube. I started spending most of my day excercising, I was doing 3 or 4 hours a day. I also did tai chi. the transformation that I felt was amazing. Four years later and I now have a yoga teacher training certificate and have healed from most of the physical issues.

Then I came across Ayurveda and what I read there challenged everything about the food we eat. Certain food combinations like beans and cheese, fruit and yogurt, cheese and tomato sauce, etc. creates toxins. So much of the food we eat creates only toxins, sluggish digestion, and sickness in the body. Iced drinks, cold salads/food, reheated/refrigerated leftovers, ice cream, etc. all creates toxins in the body. Our digestive systems are impaired or not functioning optimally to extract nutrients due to the food we eat.

Eating cold foods impairs digestion since agni (fire) becomes diminished. Especially when one has a cold/sickness or the weather outside is cold, cold/refrigerated foods should be avoided. Even water is better taken hot.

Salads and raw foods are hard to digest and create excess air in the body due to the light and cold quality. Excess air leads to anxiety, nervousness, tremors, dryness. Avoid salads unless its summer and your digestion is strong. Try cooked/sauted/steamed greens.

Leftovers create toxins and heaviness in the body, which is not good for meditation. Food should be fresh and not frozen or refrigerated. Microwaving destroys nutrients in the food so food should be only heated on a stove.

Cheese is difficult to digest, as well as milk straight from the refrigerator. Milk should be boiled with spices and taken hot without any other food. Fresh cheeses are better than hard cheeses for digestion.

Since studying Ayurveda for the past 3 years and changing my diet I have not been sick in years and feel lighter and healthier. I used to get sick all the time and would easily catch other’s cold, but now I can sit around other sick people and not catch it.

Okra Saute

Okra is tridoshic, sattvic, ojas building fruit. It’s slimy, astringent, and cooling. It helps sooth the colon and relieves dryness and constipation, so is good for fall weather when it gets windy and dry.

Ingredients:

  • Okra, slice horizontally
  • Spices: Mustard Seeds, Cumin Seeds, Tumeric, Coriander, Cumin, Salt
  • Toppings: Cilantro, Lime

Heat ghee or olive oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Wait for the mustard seeds to pop then add in tumeric, coriander, cumin. Add in the okra and salt. Cover and cook about 10 minutes. Top with cilantro and squeeze of lime. Serve with roti.

10 Day Vipassana Meditation Retreat

I completed a 10 day Vipassana retreat in Pecatonia, IL. Vipassana is a meditation technique that originated from India and means ‘to see things as they really are.’ It was taught by Buddha as a method to eradicate suffering and liberate people from bondage. S.N Goenka brought the technique back to India, where it spread and is now taught at centers around the world in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin.

We generate negativities within ourselves daily that get suppressed or create tension in the body, which ripples out into the world around us. When someone does or says something we don’t like, we become unhappy. When we don’t get what we want we become unhappy. This continues throughout life as unwanted things continue to happen or are done to us and we become miserable, try to escape, or suppress the emotion deep into the unconscious. The cause of suffering lies within, in our reactions to things we experience. We can change ourselves, rather than trying to change others to behave as we want them to.

Vipassana is both mentally and physically challenging, requiring one to sit for hours in one position. However, the benefits of this practice is that it can balance the mind (equanimity), relieve suffering at the root level, and has the potential to liberate. By observing our breath and the sensations that arise in the body, we observe the emotions, cravings, aversions, rather than reacting, until it passes, thus eradicating the issue from our mind over time as the impurities lessen in strength. Eventually the mind becomes purified from negativities, bringing peace and harmony regardless of the external situation.

Vipassana Experience

The experience I had at the center was one of the most transformative things I’ve done. During the course you’re not allowed to talk, read, listen to music so as to minimize any distractions from external, so that one can focus on the internal. We are given breakfast and lunch, while dinner is only fruit or tea. This made me appreciate having a hot meal, especially when it got cold outside. I ate things I normally would not eat and it was fulfilling because it was a hot meal that someone made for me out of charity.

I would take walks in the prairie when it warmed up in the afternoon, observing all aspects of nature. The dried corn fields rustling in the wind, geese flying overhead, dead animals and poop, the unpleasant sound of gunshots as it was hunting season, the warm sun on my face, the moon and stars at night, the mossy pond, crickets, rabbits, and furry caterpillers. It was all delightful for the senses to take in the beauty of nature and its sounds.

The most beautiful part of the 10 day process was on the last day when we could finally talk to one other. It was like we all knew each other or were part of a family for that two weeks. There was so much joy and kindness, compassion that had been developed. We talked like we had known each other for years. When the bell for the last meditation rang we walked together in one big group, stopping to look at a rabbit and a flock of geese overhead as the sun set and weather cooled down. We laughed and talked like an old group of friends, no cameras or phones or pictures being taken, just a group of people enjoying themselves. The authenticity of being with a group of people and no one trying to promote themself on social media was refreshing.

On the last day, I was nervous about going back into the world. I started driving around 7am, seeing the sun rise as I drove was like leaving a dream. When I got home I felt like a different person, physically and mentally. It was strange being in the world again after 10 days of silence and meditation. The people around me unaware of what I had discovered within myself.